The following sections explain the steps you need to understand and give the instructions you need to follow to successfully build KDE Software from source:

The following sections explain the steps you need to understand and give the instructions you need to follow to successfully build KDE Software from source:

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* [[/Sources|Obtain the Source Code for the software]]

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* [[/Sources|How the KDE Source Code is structured]]

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* [[/Build|Build and Install the software]]

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* [[/Build|How to Build and Install the software]]

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* [[/Run|Run the software]]

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* [[/Run|How to Run the software]]

== Development Model ==

== Development Model ==

Revision as of 09:05, 4 June 2011

Warning

These pages are currently being completely re-written to reflect the new KDE infrastructure and may not be in a consistent state. Information and commands on some page may no longer be valid and should be used with care.

This section of KDE TechBase is designed to help get you started in participating in the technical side of the KDE community. It will explain to you how KDE Software is structured and built, and how you can participate by building KDE for yourself.

Note

Quickstart: If you're impatient to get started without understanding the background then we recommend you use one of the available Build Scripts.

Using KDE Software

If you just want to use stable KDE software for your everyday computing needs, then you do not need to build KDE Software for yourself. You should instead use the software installer provided by your Linux distribution to install KDE package.

The best place to learn how to do this is through your distributions normal support channels, although you may find some useful information on the following pages:

Mac OS X does not currently have an installer available for KDE Software, but you can simplify building it by using MacPorts or Fink

Getting Help

If you are looking for help in using the KDE Workspace or KDE Applications then please visit the KDE UserBase.

If you have any questions or problems with building or developing KDE Software please feel free to ask for help. However, be patient while waiting for a response, and try to work through the problem yourself, we aren't going to do it all for you. Working your way through and understanding why something doesn't work is a good way to learn how to do things the right way.

Building and Running KDE Software From Source

There are several possible ways to build and install KDE software and the method you choose depends on what you want to do with the software. In particular if you are only wanting to build and develop a single application you may not need to build the entire KDE Development Platform to do so. You can read more about this on the Build Methods page.

The following sections explain the steps you need to understand and give the instructions you need to follow to successfully build KDE Software from source: